news-record.com

CHAPEL HILL (MCT) — The Varsity Theater, a mainstay of downtown that has lured generations of college students and townies across its sticky floors for mainstream movies and obscure art-house flicks, is going dark.

Bruce Stone, owner of the theater with the letter-sweater name in this college town, elaborated on his decision in a two-page announcement faxed to local news organizations Thursday.

''Although the film exhibition business is a highly variable, feast or famine sort of business, the assumption has always been 1/8that3/8 the feasts and famines eventually even one another out," the statement said. "However, there has been much more famine in recent years, with the summers being especially difficult."

Efforts to reach Stone were unsuccessful. In his statement, he said he must decline further comment.

The announcement comes as little surprise. In May, Stone acknowledged that he was shopping for a buyer for the business he has run for the past decade. The theater has been open under different owners and different names for 80 years.

Although the crushing economy saw Americans flock to the movies early in the year for a bit of escapism, the reality of trying to run an art-house theater in an era of megaplexes and Netflix has hampered Stone for years.

The independent film industry has changed, too, in recent times, causing even more difficulties for art-house owners.

Specialty distributors of artsy, independent and foreign films have shut down recently, leaving less for theaters trying to offer something different. The surviving distributors tend to release specialty films in the few months leading up to the Oscars, leaving a narrow window for the sleepers and blockbusters that stave off the times of famine.

Stone, who also owns the Chelsea art-house theater in northern Chapel Hill, said downtown, where businesses tend to cater to UNC-Chapel Hill students, no longer seems to draw the older crowd that flocks to independent flicks.

''A subjective observation, perhaps," Stone said in his statement, "but it seems that the college audience has become less and less interested in specialty films over the years. I am told that it's because of Netflix, or computers, or a more generalized predilection for those glossier multiplexes and an appetite for the comforts of mass culture. ... Or maybe it's just the economy."

Kevin Foy, mayor of Chapel Hill and an advocate for throwing more tax dollars to the upkeep and marketing of downtown, was saddened by the news.

''The Varsity is one of the iconic establishments downtown," Foy said. "When people think of Franklin Street, they think of the marquee."

Foy would like to see a theater in the space for many generations to come, but the town has little control over what goes into the privately owned buildings that dot the main drag. Stone does not own the building.

''Part of what's difficult about downtown is buildings are all privately owned, and the negotiations that go on are private, and we don't always know why things are happening the way they are," Foy said. "The Varsity is a great theater, a great place to see films. But just like a lot of downtown properties, it could use some sprucing up."